In The Between
by wh4ts3rn4m3
Summary: No one remembers their birth, but you sure as hell don't forget your death...that is, if you live on to tell about it. All original characters. Rated T just to be safe. Please read and review. It's a story about ghosts, 'kay?
1. Chapter 1 Tom

Chapter 1-Tom

Chapter 1-Tom

It was midnight. I was sitting on the hood of my red Subaru, keeping my eyes peeled. She came around here every so often. I enjoyed watching her. Some may wonder what kind of girl comes to the park at midnight, but I knew she was the only kind of girl for me.

It was tricky business, being in love with a ghost. Especially one whose name I didn't even know. But I loved her. Sometimes I even caught her looking back, and I would wonder if she loved me. Love is a funny thing. For some, it takes years to develop, for others, love can come and go. For a few, it is instantaneous. For these few, there is one and only one love in their life. I am one of these few.

Ever since I saw her when I was 15, no other girls mattered. NO other beauty compared. Nothing was more real than what I felt for the girl that no one else could see. She was all I ever thought about, all I wanted. I wrote stories, poetry, songs about her, and I didn't even know her name. I didn't know the first thing about her.

But I knew her. I knew her soft brown curls, her slender, fragile frame, those sad blue eyes, the slight blue glow that she emitted. And I knew she was the only woman I would ever love.

I waited in the park for an hour, wishing my ghost would float by, just to catch a glimpse of her. If only she knew how I needed her, how I wished I could just muster up the courage to talk to her. I spoke to girls all the time in school, living ones, with no trouble at all. Yet, when it came to the one that only I could see, I just watched. For four years, I watched her, needing her. Just needing to know her name. One word, anything.

I never had a girlfriend. I never wanted one. I had half the school thinking I was gay. It was bad enough being a guy in drama club, but I'd never hate a date, gone to a dance, anything. It was my senior year, and I hadn't even had a first kiss. It didn't matter. All I needed was her.

And then she appeared.


	2. Chapter 2 Jane

Chapter 2-Jane

It was the 30-year anniversary of my death. I returned to the site of my death, the park. Thirty years had passed. I was eternally 17. Eternally cursed to walk these roads where my life was ripped away from me. I watched my parents die at a ripe old age, my sister move away with a husband and family of her own. All my old friends grew up and moved away to bigger and better things.

I was trapped. Invisible. All I wanted was for someone, anyone, to see me and not look away. There was a boy who came to the park. I watched him. I swear he could see me. The way he looked both through me and at me at the same time. I felt like I was alive again. Once, I swear I blushed.

There was something there, something no one could explain in words. Something in his eyes that just made me melt inside. I wanted to live in his eyes forever. I didn't even know his name.

I didn't know the first thing about him. All I knew was sandy hair, soft eyes, gentle face…I knew I needed him. Needed those eyes to see me, craved his touch. It was simple. I needed something, a simple nod, a 'hello', a smile; I needed to know his name. Needed something, anything, to make me believe that this was real.

I walked through the park, where 30 years before, I'd died during a protest. Police brutality killed me. That was it. Back in my day, people stood up for their rights, people had beliefs, morals. Now, the only thing I believed in was him.

And then I saw him, sitting on the hood of his red Subaru. I stopped, not knowing what to do, what to say. I just looked at him. And, he looked back. I felt alive, like I always did when he looked at me. It was almost as if I had a heart-beat; it was almost as if I could feel the blood flowing into my face. I could've died (that is, if I wasn't already dead.) I needed him to say something.

"Hello?" I saw his mouth move slowly, his quiet voice sounded loud in the silence of the night. I couldn't breathe. I didn't even have lungs and the sound of his voice took my breath away. I just starred.


	3. Chapter 3 Annabelle

Chapter 3-Annabelle

Midnight. The mess I was lies on the bed in my mess of a bedroom, too lazy to clean it up, too apathetic to care. Since Marley died, nothing mattered. I'd lost my older sister, my best friend, the only in the world who was always there for me. She still came around from time to time, but it wasn't the same. Marley would be 17 forever. I was nearly 18 now. I was 15 when she died. I was 15 when she was stabbed walking home from a Halloween party, and her friends were too stupid to realize that her life was more important than the risk of getting an underage.

Grunting, I rolled off my bed, scrambling for cigarettes on my floor. I found a pack. Grumbling more, I kicked the piles of clothes on my floor looking for a lighter. It didn't matter if I smoked in the house or not. Mom was too drunk or strung-out to notice, or care, for that matter. Marley was always the one who held us together. When she died, mom collapsed. I still get through the day. I wake up, go to school, every day. I don't study, but I never did. Doesn't really matter. I'm not gonna be able to afford to go to college anyway.

So I lit up. Just as I took that first drag, I saw out of the corner of my eye a slight green glow. I turned around to see the ghost of my sister sitting on my computer desk. "Hi," I said, holding the cigarette in my mouth.

"You shouldn't smoke," Marley said, her green eyes starring me down.

I rolled my eyes. I wanted to say she shouldn't have been drinking that night. I thought that might be in bad taste.

"It gets me through the day," I mumbled, taking a seat on my bed. Marley just looked.

"You need to get out more, Bell," she said, crossing her legs. I opened one eye to look over at my dead sister for a moment, before looking away. It was funny, how my dead sister served as more of a mother-figure than my actual mother did. "How's mom?" she asked. Ha.

I laughed. Quite bitterly. "She called me Marley when I came home," I said, closing my eyes. I don't know why I had laughed. It wasn't funny. Not even a little bit. Ironic, maybe, but there was no humour in your drunk of a mother calling you your dead sister's name. I kept my eyes closed, trying to keep it together.

"Bell…" Marley sighed, floating over to my side. I shuddered as she put a cold arm on my shoulders. I looked over at Marley. She still looked the same as I remembered her. The same long, straight black hair, pale skin, green eyes surrounded in smoky eye-liner. This is how she'd always be remembered. It made me wanna cry, and I have no clue why.

Sometimes, I wished it was me who had died. Then maybe at least my mom would have the sensible daughter left. Instead, she got stuck with me. I looked down at my cigarette, taking one last drag. I flicked the butt onto my floor, stomping it out with the hell of my bare foot.


	4. Chapter 4 Rhody

Chapter 4-Rhody

_Devil's Night, 1986_

Laughter could be heard from all around the town. Teenagers ran through the streets, dodging cars, avoiding civilization, clinging to their groups. Seventeen year-old Ivy Rhodes, commonly known as "Rhody" hid in a dark ally, along with Sid, Eddy, Kara, and Glen. Rhody grinned at her companions, touching her bag to make sure all the contents were still there.

"Ready?" Sid said, right next to Rhody's ear. Rhody gave a nod, looking quickly around at the other four teens next to her. Led by Rhody and Sid, the five sprinted across the street towards the bridge that overlooked a large river. The group stopped as soon as they reached the middle of the bridge, laughing as they tried to catch their breath.

"Can, Rhody," Eddy said, holding out an outstretched arm. Rhody nodded, reaching into her bag and tossing Eddy a can of black spray-paint while his girlfriend Kara watched him, her face lit up from excitement. Rhody stood upright, running a hand through her messy brown hair as she walked over to observe, taking her stance next to Sid, who just grinned at her.

"What're you writing," Rhody spoke, her voice echoing slightly.

Eddy shrugged, shaking up the can.

"Car," Glen spoke for the first time, his eyes wide when he realized that the car wasn't slowing down. "Car!"

The group scrambled. Rhody ran to the edge of the bridge while Sid looked around, frantically trying to figure out where to run to.

"Sid!" Rhody screamed at him, as the car swerved, just barely missing her friend. Rhody's eyes went wide, starring into the headlights of the car that was seconds away from hitting her. Suddenly, life seemed to slow down. Kara was screaming, Sid was scrambling to get onto his feet, Eddy and Glen were racing to help Sid up.

Nobody saw the car hit her. Rhody didn't even have time to scream before both her and the car toppled off the bridge and into the river below. Life sped up at this point, and the next thing Rhody knew was an overwhelming cold as she plunged into the river. It was no use struggling; she was already dead. Rhody's eyes closed, and suddenly, she was watching her own body float to the top of the river. She could breathe again. Someone was grabbing the arm of her body; Sid had dived in after her. He was dragging her to the surface, screaming at her to open her eyes.

Rhody screamed back, yelling at Sid that she was alright, that she was just unconscious. The others were screaming down at Sid, Kara was sobbing. It was no use. Rhody Rhodes was dead at seventeen.

_October 29, Present Day_

It was almost the anniversary of my death again. All the friends I was with the night I died had moved away after high school. I didn't blame them. That was nearly 20 years ago. If I wasn't stuck at 17 with nothing else better to do than haunt my old neighborhood, I would've moved on a long time ago.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a choice. I was trapped in the same Sex Pistols shirt that I'd died in. I walked past the bridge where it all happened, just for memory's sake. We were just your average group of teens in the 80's, out to have a good time. I wound up dead on Devil's Night. And then I saw Sid.

At least it looked like Sid. God, he looked old. He wasn't old; he was only about 36 or 37 at the most, but man. Not the Sid I remember. He was walking towards the spot where it'd happened; the most newly repaired spot on the entire bridge. I watched him for a moment as he stood there, pulled something out of his pocket. A rose. My heart sank. It didn't; I didn't have a heart.

Sid looked at the rose for a moment, before he tossed it into the river where I'd died. He'd dived in after me to save me, but he was too late. Knowing him, he probably blamed himself. I wanted so badly to tell him that it wasn't his fault. That I was already dead before he'd dived in. I wanted to tell him that he was an idiot and could've gotten himself killed for jumping that kind of a distance into a freezing cold river.

"Ah, Sid…" I spoke. It was no use speaking quietly; no one could hear me anyway.

Sid turned around and looked right at me. I swear, the old guy had a heart attack right then and there.

"Rh-…RHODY," he croaked, clutching his heart, doubling himself over. I just stood there, starring at him like an idiot. He could see me?! After all these years, no one could see me. And if they could they didn't say anything. "Rhody! Sh-shit!" Sid ran towards me, and all I could do was laugh. He could see me. "B-but…y-you _died_." And then he fainted.

"Sid," I said, kneeling over Sid. I'd dragged him off to the side of the bridge so there wasn't a chance of a car hitting him. Then again, sides of bridges apparently weren't the best place to avoid being hit by a car. "Sid, c'mon, wake up," I said, slapping him in the face gently. I was surprised I could touch him. Everyone else, my hand had gone right through. I guess him being able to see me meant he was able to touch me too.

Sid opened his eyes, quite widely, and just starred at me. "Rhodes? Is that really you?"

"Don't faint again, Sid. Your heart can't take it at this age," I said, smiling a bit as I put a hand on his chest. He put his hand over mine.

"Jesus, Rhode. It's been like, 20 years," Sid spoke softly. "I must be trippin' balls."

I laughed. Same old Sid, just like he was when he was 17. "How's the rest of the crew," I asked.

"Kara and Eddy have two kids," he said, starring straight at me.

"You're kidding."

"Nah. Two girls. Elissa and Ivy," he smiled. For a moment, Sid looked like he might cry. Two of my best friends in high school had named a daughter after me. I felt like I could cry for a moment as well, then I remembered that it wasn't physically possible.

I shook my head. "Glen?"

"He's a lawyer."

"You're kidding."

"Actually, yeah. He's a music teacher," Sid grinned. I laughed.

"How can you see me?"

"You tell me," Sid's eyes went wide again.

I shook my head. "Damn, you got old," I said, looking at Sid.

Sid just smiled. "You look…exactly the same way I remember you," he said, sitting up and looking at me straight in the eye. "I can't believe it's really you," he said, putting a hand on my waist.

"Me neither," I said, putting my hand over his.

Sid chuckled. "You know, it's funny. Glen knew. Kara and Eddy knew. I never told you, though," he said, looking me in the eyes.

"Told me what?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"That I was in love with you."


End file.
